Off topic: What web hosting do you like/recommend?

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rickyboy
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Off topic: What web hosting do you like/recommend?

Post by rickyboy »

Hello everyone!

I am shopping for web hosting services and I'd like to get your opinions on any that you have used so far. Personally, I'm looking for myself and a small group of customers to set up small sites (some with simple commerce capability, i.e. get charge card info securely, and to be able to grow more). I'd like to get something that I could setup a Linux on, but I'd be OK too with a pre-installed OS by the hosting service. But I have to have root access.

I know several people like Nearly Free Speech and at least Lutz has used Amazon EC2. Please let me know how you like these services, or others I might have overlooked.

Thanks! --Ricky
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Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

I used to use nfshost. It gives you a shell account, but there are some significant drawbacks. Everything but PHP is as a cgi. Accessing large files stored in the account from binary applications not stored on the same volume is incredibly slow. Apart from that, the service and cost are excellent.

I currently use webfaction. It's a good service, reliable, and inexpensive. You have full access to your directories, and can install whatever you need. You have access to cron and a control panel that can set up various web frameworks, databases, and web servers for your.
Jeff
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rickyboy
Posts: 607
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 7:13 pm
Location: Front Royal, Virginia

Post by rickyboy »

Jeff, That's great -- thanks for the valuable info! --Rick
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Ryon
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Post by Ryon »

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by root access. Most web hosts will give you a shell, but full root priveleges would allow you to play around with all the other accounts hosted on your box, and you certainly wouldn't want them mucking around with yours! Ditto for loading your own OS. You'd have to get an expensive co-lo to get this feature.

The nLFC is hosted on Dreamhost, mainly because they're big enough to take care of problems, and because they're cheap. Drawbacks: They don't allow persistent processes or off-site DB access, and when another account on your box gets Slashdotted, you get Slashdotted too.

And BTW, I love some of our off-topic conversations. If Whatever Else isn't a good enough category for this sort of thing, then I'll make one up!

rickyboy
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Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 7:13 pm
Location: Front Royal, Virginia

Post by rickyboy »

Ryon wrote:I'm not sure I understand what you mean by root access. Most web hosts will give you a shell, but full root priveleges would allow you to play around with all the other accounts hosted on your box, and you certainly wouldn't want them mucking around with yours! Ditto for loading your own OS. You'd have to get an expensive co-lo to get this feature.
As long as I can install and configure software, like the web server where you need more than just regular user privileges, then that will be sufficient for me.
Ryon wrote:The nLFC is hosted on Dreamhost, mainly because they're big enough to take care of problems, and because they're cheap. Drawbacks: They don't allow persistent processes or off-site DB access, and when another account on your box gets Slashdotted, you get Slashdotted too.
Oh, interesting thought. I never did think about /.-ing.
Ryon wrote:And BTW, I love some of our off-topic conversations. If Whatever Else isn't a good enough category for this sort of thing, then I'll make one up!
I vote for that too! :-)

Thanks Ryon!
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m35
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Post by m35 »

Ryon wrote:And BTW, I love some of our off-topic conversations. If Whatever Else isn't a good enough category for this sort of thing, then I'll make one up!
I like that we have a Windows and *nix sections, but there are many topics/questions that are cross-platform. I've never really felt that the "Whatever Else" section was a good place for cross-platform questions, but that's where I usually put them because I didn't see a better alternative.

Could we have another section for newLISP related cross-platform questions?

Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

Or maybe just merge them and anything that is platform-specific should have that mentioned in the message or subject.
Jeff
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cormullion
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Post by cormullion »

Presumably you're not wanting to run newLISP for CGI? (I bet you'd be equally happy working with Perl or PHP...:). In that case, you have more choice. I haven't encountered any disadvantages with nfshost yet. If your demands are modest, you'll find it good value - my newLISP-related blatherings since last November have cost me $3.

rickyboy
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Location: Front Royal, Virginia

Post by rickyboy »

cormullion wrote:Presumably you're not wanting to run newLISP for CGI? (I bet you'd be equally happy working with Perl or PHP...:). In that case, you have more choice. I haven't encountered any disadvantages with nfshost yet. If your demands are modest, you'll find it good value - my newLISP-related blatherings since last November have cost me $3.
Wow! Three dollars for seven months of blathering! You can't shake a stick at that! :-)

Thanks, P!*

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* "P" is your new hip hop moniker. :-)
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cormullion
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Post by cormullion »

Or just call me Monica. :) Haven't been slashdotted yet. And don't intend to be... But I gather it would cost me a one-off charge of around $10 - $20. It would be the shame that would hurt more.

Ryon
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Post by Ryon »

Actually, I DID run an early version of a newLISP server on Dreamhost a couple of years ago, and it worked just fine. The problem is that they do not allow persistent processes, and will nuke anything running for more than a few hours. Maybe you could do it as a cron job, if you don't need it 24/7.

I'll be glad to add or change any forum titles, but need a consensus before I make any changes. As for merging forums ... I'm way too lazy for that!

rickyboy
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Post by rickyboy »

Ryon wrote:I'll be glad to add or change any forum titles, but need a consensus before I make any changes. As for merging forums ... I'm way too lazy for that!
What about having a blog aggregator (to read newLISP blog feeds and display) on the forum? You can start with this blog feed: http://unbalanced-parentheses.nfshost.com/atom.cgi.
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Tim Johnson
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Post by Tim Johnson »

I've been with cniweb.net for 8 years. http://www.cniweb.net I've used other hosting services
before and since ( such as with customers of mine )
cniweb is the best. They are a small company and they give you hands
on service. Often, directly by the owner, who is extremely proficient in
all issues, including programming. They will do anything - install anything
for you that is safe and professional. I.E. they are not a "one-size" fits
all, lamp-only "server factory". I've also noted that their personnel has
not change significantly since I've known them.

They offer windows, linux and sun servers at least. And I think they
would tailor their services to your needs. And they lease servers as
well. There you would have full ssh access, etc...

They've hosted rebol since 2001, speaking of "non-lamp systems",
and I bet they have already installed newlisp, since I know the owner
is interested in it.

MTCW
tim

rickyboy
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Post by rickyboy »

Thanks, Tim! I'll check it out. BTW, a fellow Alaskan?
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rickyboy
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Location: Front Royal, Virginia

Post by rickyboy »

rickyboy wrote:Thanks, Tim! I'll check it out. BTW, a fellow Alaskan?
I see from the website that they are closer to Lutz (i.e. in Florida).
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rickyboy
Posts: 607
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 7:13 pm
Location: Front Royal, Virginia

Post by rickyboy »

cormullion wrote:Or just call me Monica. :)
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tom
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Post by tom »

I use rimuhosting with no issues, but have thought about trying slicehost because they're a bit cheaper...

Tim Johnson
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Location: Palmer Alaska USA

Post by Tim Johnson »

Yeah, cniweb is on the opposite side of the continent from me, but
they are only a phone call or an email away.
they are not cheap. hostmonster is cheap, however,
my monthly charge is still but a fraction of what I make in an
hour and it is really worth it, and there are no hidden charges.
Hostmonster has hidden costs aplenty - I.E. there is a fee
for every email address for which you might want spam
protection. Corey (cniweb owner) developed his own - called portcullis,, if
memory serves me and it works quite well.
Tim
P.S. Corey Says
I can also configure customized virtual servers at a very reasonable
price. Which gives you a dedicated server without having to buy or rent
your own hardware.

I have been virtualizing a lot. using 4 x 4 Opteron servers running
VMware on SUSE.

rickyboy
Posts: 607
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 7:13 pm
Location: Front Royal, Virginia

Post by rickyboy »

tom wrote:I use rimuhosting with no issues, but have thought about trying slicehost because they're a bit cheaper...
Thanks, tom!! I'll check it out.
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tom
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Post by tom »

ok, slicehost is not cheaper, but they provide more ram and drive space than rimuhosting. They also offer archlinux, which is my distro of choice. Right now my vps at rimu is running debian.

Tim Johnson
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Location: Palmer Alaska USA

Post by Tim Johnson »

Notwithstanding my preferences, I kind of like hostmonster. Their tech
support is good. They are _cheap_ $144 for two years and once you
have a domain hosted, you can host any number other domains as
virtual domain "underneath" it. They provide secure shell access and
according to tech support, one could install any binary in a non-public
folder (say /home/mydomain/bin). Also, one could compile newlisp with
INIT_FILE (in newlisp.c) edited to a local file. - At least I think you should
be able to.

I set my daughters domain there and parked two of my domains as
"virtual domains" there....

:-) And with spamassassin you could your own spam filtering.
tim

nanbane
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Re: Off topic: What web hosting do you like/recommend?

Post by nanbane »

ya sure the good place for getting the web hosting services ,
you can visit this site http://www.tucktail.com/web-hosting-plans/ , here it gives the best three types of hosting plans named as economy,deluxe & ultimate plans in this one you can select as you wish.........

Ryon
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Re: Off topic: What web hosting do you like/recommend?

Post by Ryon »

Dreamhost's web hosting service declined badly since my posts above. We are now hosted on Webfaction. They've been doing a great job at a good price.

Tim Johnson
Posts: 253
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 7:21 pm
Location: Palmer Alaska USA

Re: Off topic: What web hosting do you like/recommend?

Post by Tim Johnson »

Since it has been several years since I last posted regarding Hostmonster, I want to say that I have
moved all of my domains to hostmonster and I haven't been able to think of anything bad about them at all. Their tech support is spot on and they have turned out to be very reliable.
Programmer since 1987. Unix environment.

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